Cattaraugus County, New York Eviction Risk: High

Cattaraugus County carries an average eviction-risk score of 7.8/10 (High), placing it in the middle third of New York eviction laws's 60 counties: 31 counties are riskier and 28 are more landlord-friendly. Across 19 cities and a total population of roughly 38,761, landlords face a market defined by a 21.2% poverty rate, an average rent of just $757, and a rent-burden average of 29.3%. Those fundamentals translate directly to elevated collection risk and a tenant pool with limited financial cushion when income disruptions hit.

The county's intra-market spread, from a low of 6.5 to a high of 7.9, is modest but meaningful. A landlord acquiring in a lower-scoring pocket of the county is buying into a materially different operating environment than one acquiring in the highest-scoring municipalities. At a 35.3% renter share, the rental market is active enough to find tenants, but underwriting discipline matters more than in lower-risk New York eviction laws markets.

The cities inside Cattaraugus County

The county's highest-risk concentration sits in Olean (8.1/10, population 2,683), Olean (8.1/10, population 13,738), and Salamanca (8.1/10, population 5,846). Little Valley also scores 7.8/10. Olean is the county's largest city by a wide margin, so landlords aggregating units there are exposed to the combined weight of the county's highest-income-stress metrics at meaningful scale.

Lower-risk alternatives exist within the same county borders. St. Bonaventure scores 7.7/10 and Franklinville 8.1/10, offering modestly better fundamentals for landlords willing to operate in smaller communities. The gap between the county floor and ceiling underscores that risk in Cattaraugus County is hyper-local: two properties a few miles apart can sit in meaningfully different risk tiers, and city-level data should drive underwriting, not the county average alone.

State-level laws that apply here

Every Cattaraugus County landlord operates under New York eviction laws state law (N.Y. RPL § 226 et seq. and RPAPL § 711). Notice requirements vary by situation: a nonpayment case requires a 14-day notice under RPAPL § 711(2), while a material lease violation triggers a 10-day notice under RPAPL § 711(1). Holdover timelines scale with tenancy length under RPL § 226-c: 30 days for tenancies under one year, 60 days for one-to-two-year tenancies, and 90 days for tenancies of two or more years. Just-cause eviction requirements apply statewide, and rent-cap formulas vary by locality, so landlords should confirm local ordinances before assuming state defaults govern. Retaliation protections run under RPL § 223-b and the implied warranty of habitability under RPL § 235-b; the NY State Division of Human Rights handles fair-housing and screening complaints, with source-of-income status protected under state law.

Procedural costs add up quickly. Court filing fees range from $45 to $210, sheriff lockout fees from $50 to $200, and attorney fees from $1,000 to $4,000. Timeline exposure is equally wide: uncontested cases resolve in 30 to 90 days, while contested proceedings can run 90 to 210 days. Landlords new to the state should review the New York eviction laws eviction process and budget for the full range before pricing any unit. For a complete breakdown of out-of-pocket exposure, the New York eviction costs guide covers filing, service, and attorney-fee components in detail.

With a 21.2% poverty rate and 35.3% of residents renting, the financial stress in this market is real and consistent across most of the 19 cities in the grid above; use the city-level scores to pinpoint where within Cattaraugus County your risk tolerance fits.